GENERATION T - TikTok: when a platform overcomes generational differences
By the editorial staff
Inspire creativity and bring joy. That is the mission of Tik Tok, an entertainment platform founded in 2017 that landed in Europe in August 2018. Now available in over 150 countries and available in 75- languages, the specialised entertainment platform gathers users aged 13 and above.
Different generations and opposing viewpoints meet through the creation and sharing of short videos that are mostly
viewed from mobile devices.
This is how TikTok has gone from being an incubator of creativity in every feld – the contents of the creators on the platform range from comedy to sports, from music to lifestyle, from cooking to travel – to becoming a forum for discussionon important social and topical issues.
Here we find travel enthusiasts, mothers who discuss their lives as parents humorously, grandmothers and grandfathers who are perfect partners in sketches with their grandchildren. A community where diversity is the order of the day and where the generational framework loses its limits and boundaries.
No longer many generations, but only one: Generation T
(TikTok), a wholecommunity that is increasingly
heterogeneous and is comparable to a new
mindset, able to overturn the rules of demography.
The characteristics of the people on the platform, in fact, cannot be limited to segmentation nailed down to the number of years lived. Generation T is independent of age and it is wrong to confine its protagonists to separate groups with distinctivecharacteristics, because on TikTok users from different age groups share values, behaviours and attitudes.
The widespread attitude among users is engaging and collective. From teenage grandchildren to elderly grandparents, Generation T leaves no one behind, wants to do things together and isn’t afraid to involve everyone. The result? The continuous co-creation of moments and shared content.
Here are some of the stories of the creators who talk aboutthemselves on TikTok:
Tasnim Ali (@alitasnim):
born in Arezzo and raised in Rome, she uses TikTok to answer questions and satisfy others’ curiosity, ironically debunking myths about her religion: Islam.
Dayoung Clementi (@aboutclementi): a 22-year-old Italian-Korean woman who uses her profle to show the differences and similarities between the two countries.
The couple Raissa (@raissarussi) and Momo (@momobayed):
she is Italian and he is Muslim, on TikTok they talk about their
daily life and life as a couple with self-deprecating and comical
content, with the aim of conveying important messages related
to their diverse cultures, making fun of things that have really
happened or responding with elegant irony to commonplaces.
Liz Supermais (@lizsupermais): makes Chinese simple and
accessible and tells anecdotes and discusses the peculiarities of China
Shinhai Ventura (@shinhaiventura): with her mother Kazue,
she brings out all the charm of Japanese culture, especially
the Japanese writing system.
Arnold & Family (@4rnol4): a young economics student
who, with his multi-ethnic family, shares moments of complicity and joking with his parents, brother and sister
Aida Diouf Mbengue (@aidaadiouf): curates a beauty and
lifestyle profle with tips, opinions and a lot of irony, to talk
about episodes from her own life.